ReUnition
by D the Fox
Summary: Fox is growing tired of his life in Team StarFox. But perhaps that will change when he is given a mission to explore a previously unexplored part of the Lylat System. But upon landing on the surface, his other comrades become blown off course. Now Fox has to find them, and maybe, possibly, he'll find something more important than his friends.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Some weird issues tend to occur when uploading different file types, so you'll probably notice some weird series of characters preceding each paragraph. Ignore them entirely. They are the result of me trying to keep up with paragraphs and paragraph breaks and blah, blah, blah, other stuff.**

 **This story is weird to place in StarFox continuity, so my advice is that you place this story after _Adventures_ , and possibly _Assault_ , but in regards to _Command,_ I presume it doesn't really fit in with any of the multiples continuities that game creates. Krystal is not currently present, but I haven't decided if this is because of _Command_ , or if she's simply not present.**

 **So, with that being said, enjoy, and I'll hope to have this updated soon. Ciao.**

 **StarFox: ReUnition**

Prologue

P*- I cannot remember what James McCloud was like, though I wish I could. I never really knew him, and, by extension, he never really knew me. Had he been alive throughout my life, I can only imagine how it would have been different. But that doesn't really matter anymore. He's gone. And I am his son. Both are facts. Both are truths. I know who he was.

P*- Sadly, I can't make the same claim of myself.

* * *

P*- The stars had always held an inner beauty, to me, that most people could never see. They could look up into the sky and see them. But I feel as though no one has ever taken the time to simply look at them. To admire them.

P*- I love the stars. They are my home. I don't really consider any one planet my home, any one place in the Lylat System. I do not spend enough time, anymore, on them to really call any planet home. The Great Fox is the closest physical thing to being called a home, but it is simply a residence, a place where I sleep, socialize, and drink coffee. Not a home, just a place to not be alone.

P*- But out there, on the other hand, _that_ is my home.

P*- Among the swirling nebulae, the dashing meteors, the vortexes and planetary satellites, that is where I am home. That is where I am truly free.

* * *

P*- The central hub of the Great Fox always retained a state of permanent volume. Some of us could not get any sleep over the sound of Falco and Slippy eternally (verbally) digging at each other's throats. In the earlier days of our StarFox team (which should properly be called StarFox II), Peppy had tried to (literally) shut them up and (physically) knock sense into them. To no avail.

P*- I personally had grown used to these kinds of sounds and ruckuses, simply opting to block them out with a pair of very good headphones and a _StarTunes_ account. Under those conditions, I was usually able to sleep in one of the (extremely uncomfortable) pilot chairs. Otherwise: coffee.

P*- Aboard the Great Fox and working with StarFox, there was precisely one rule: keep the coffee pot full. A certain Fox McCloud such as myself was liable to break someone or something, otherwise. If my memory is correct, Falco still has a scar under his left wing as evidence of this. I will not lie, I can be violent if I so choose to be. But I digress.

P*- One particular sleep-deprived day began (I say, as if the previous one had technically ended) with an electronic voice informing us of an incoming transmission from Corneria.

P*- I gave a sigh of relief. Usually the echoing din of madness ended when we were given a mission. The completion of said mission generally resulted in the return of the madness, but that is neither here nor there.

P*- The Great Fox's AI, ROB 64, patched us through to the transmission signal and a moment later, the holographic monitor on the hub's main wall lit up. A large blown up image of a certain red clad General Pepper covered the expanse.

P*- "Greetings to you, StarFox," he began, rather formally, "I have a request of your Team in a matter of great interest."

P*- "Oh yeah, what kind of 'great interest?'" Falco popped off.

P*- "I have a mission for you that I would almost say goes far beyond anything else you have done." said the General, "And I think that it will prove most valuable. I will also be willing to pay rather greatly for your help."

P*- "Consider it done!" Falco exclaimed, eyes appearing to light up at the prospect of money. Though it did occur to me to ask what he was so interested in, I chose not to.

P*- "Shouldn't we at least find out what it is, though?" asked Slippy. I could practically feel the time slow down as I mentally awaited Falco's-

P*- "Shut up, Slippy!" There it was.

P*- "Go on, General," I said, attempting to retain a sense of order in my mind, but feeling that that might prove futile at best.

P*- "Thank you." The General nodded in my direction, "Now then. Our research teams have picked up some information regarding a previously unexplored planet, right on the edge of the Lylat System."

P*- Unexplored planet? I had thought every planet had been explored. Wasn't that part of some military campaign a couple of years ago? My interest had been piqued.

P*-"Hang on, what unexplored planet? Didn't the Cornerian Army fund a mass exploration several years ago, as a way to locate and contain Andross's forces?"

P*- "That is correct. However, the planet in question, which we have dubbed _Antonia_ , was specifically and deliberately kept off of that exploration, due to reasons of-"

P*- "It was too far out and would have cost too much to send resources to explore." Falco said smartly.

P*- "Among other reasons, you are not wrong. However, it is now within our best interests to examine this planet and I would like you four to do it. As I said, I am willing to pay a very hefty sum."

P*- "A moment, please. Do you mind telling us why this is so crucial?" asked Peppy, who had remained silently, until then.

P*- "Err…" started the General.

P*- "Oh, who cares. Let's do it already!" There was Falco again, being brash and birdbrained.

P*- Falco, Falco, Falco… What were you thinking? But none of us, obviously me included, objected to his decision. In fact, the General didn't even wait for any denial or objection and took Falco's words immediately, possibly also to avoid any possibility of someone declining the mission. Not that anyone would, at the time. All things considered, as the General told it to us, this was just an exploration. Nothing could go wrong.

P*- And why did I not then consider our history with these sort of missions? Krazoa, Apperoids, Anglars, not to mention the countless excursions with Andross's forces. Clearly nothing could go wrong.

P*- "Very good! Thank you for accepting this mission. As I said, it's of great importance, so be careful. I'll have the direct coordinates sent over to you right away. The sooner you get set out, the better." And the hologram fizzed out, causing the monitor to dim.

P*- Alright, I thought, slowly sinking into my chair, this can only end well.

P*- And right on schedule (well, possibly ahead of, depending on one's world view), Slippy looked to Falco and began another bout of arguing by stating the phrase "What were you thinking?!"

P*- I sunk even deeper, confining myself to a pair of headphones and a loud track about falling in love with a Saurian. Say what you will about the General, but right then, I agreed with him on one thing: The sooner we set out, the better.

* * *

P*- "If the General's coordinates are correct," Peppy started, "We will be reaching Antonia quite shortly."

P*- "Alright," Falco said, "Wake me up when we get there."

P*- "Shouldn't we at least make some kind of plan before you go off snoozing?" said Slippy, which resulted in a classic Falco "Shut up, Slippy!" that I never quite understood.

P*- "Well, if you two pigeons are done, I think we should at least consider our options first." I said, annoyed. Maybe I had woken up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, but I was definitely not actually in the mood for their bickering.

P*- Somehow, I was not surprised by the response of "Shut up, Fox!"

P*- "Okay," Peppy began once more, "We know next to- actually, we know precisely nothing about this planet we're visiting. So, with that in mind, any suggestions?"

P*- "Enh, just drop Fox off on the surface, let him do all the heavy work." Well, thank you, Falco. "Weren't we planning on doing that, anyway?" Once again, thank you, Falco.

P*- "Hey, you know I look good in a tank," I said, earning me a mildly frightening look from Peppy and a mildly disturbed look from Slippy.

P*- "No thank you, Fox. I like to fly solo."

P*- "With that established, can we get back to the topic at hand? I'm all in favor of sending Fox, but we don't really know what we're dealing with. This isn't like Sauria, where at least we knew some of the residents were non-hostile." Peppy, my friend, thank you.

P*- "Please define 'non-hostile,' because I do happen to remember a certain SharpClaw general, you know, the one that tried to kill me."

P*- "Precisely. In these circumstances, though, we know nothing of Antonia's inhabitants, or even what the climate's like. So, in lieu of sending Fox into potentially vicious territory, I think we should throw in some reinforcements."

P*- Silence. A first, by all standards, but at those words, the Great Fox became extremely quiet. I could actually feel a certain avian growing uncomfortable at the implications.

P*- "Congrats, Falco, I think he's saying-"

P*- "Shut up, Slippy! I know what he's saying!"

P*- Cue arguing. I actually managed to tune the two out and sat that way, zoned out, for an impressive ten minutes before Peppy brought me back to the world of the living, which relied heavily on a cleverly thrown "SHUT YOUR YAPS AND LISTEN!"

P*- "When we arrive at Antonia, we're ALL taking an Arwing, and we're ALL going to see what's going on. Got it? We're ALL going out."

P*- "Sheesh, not going to buy dinner first?' Really, Falco?

P*- "Shut up, I'm getting a headache and you're not helping. Can you all just shut up for FIVE MINUTES? That'd be stupendous." I growled, "Just shut up until we get there and let me think!"

P*- "Do you use y-"

P*- "Just SHUT UP!"

P*- And for the first time in the history of our little StarFox team, for the duration of the flight, there was silence. Beautiful silence.

* * *

Chapter One

P*- Approaching us from the distance was a great orb of planetary mass. A planet about half the size of Corneria and absurdly thick with green and blue and yellow and red. A sea of clouds covered a large portion of its surface, obscuring the land and sea beneath. The overall appearance was actually quite similar to Sauria to such a degree that I felt a minor nostalgia twinge at the thought.

P*- "We are approaching Antonia," Peppy informed, "In a matter of minutes we will be within the planet's orbit. ROB, while we're out, keep the Fox from crashing, will you?"

P*- "Affirmative."

P*- "Okay, everyone now, I would like you all to make sure you're all stocked up, because I have no idea what we're dealing with and _someone-_ " A sharp look at Falco- "Couldn't keep his beak shut and let the General speak. So, make sure you have a blaster handy and loaded, just in case. Other than that, head to your Arwings and we'll hit the surface. We'll plot out our course better once we're there."

P*- "Gotcha," said Falco, stubbornly annoyed.

P*- "Aye-aye, captain!" said Slippy.

P*- Partially lost in thought, I gave a short Mm-hm and made my way through the halls to the carrier bay where we kept the Arwings. With all the prowess of an experienced, and admittedly showy, flier, I jumped into the cockpit of my own personal craft. I checked the gauges, double checked the fuel supply, triple checked the G-Diffusers, then buckled into the leather seat.

P*- The other three had just arrived by the time I had the communicators set up, operating on a personal channel on our own personal frequency coded by our beloved Slippy Toad. Oddly silent was the time spent by them inspecting their starships, before they too jumped into their cockpits. A series of indicator lights on the dashboard informed me that they had all linked up to the communication channel and that we were all live.

P*- "Alright team, as Peppy said, our top priority at the moment is simply to _reach the planet._ We don't know anything about the environment, or the… residents… so, just try to land safely and we'll go from there. Got it?" I said, wrapping my hands around the control yoke in front of me.

P*- After receiving confirmation from the others, I turned on the engines. A series of indicator lights for everything from shield gauges to gravity diffusion lit up. I felt the familiar hum of the engines vibrate through my hands as I pulled back on the yoke, causing the Arwing to slowly rise.

P*- The surrounding three Arwings lifted from the metallic ground, at which point I punched a key code into one of the computers to my left. The back wall of the bay began to lower soundlessly, forming a sort of runway. A vast blackness poured through the door, with only the stars to break it.

P*- "Alright, on three everyone. Got it? One… two…" I jerked the yoke forward, "THREE!" And the configuration of Arwings roared through the bay, and across the runway, and finally, into the vastness of space. I allowed myself a quick glance back, just to verify that the bay door was closing, then I returned to looking out and onto the speeding planet, the planet the had previously never been explored. The planet whose existence we knew nothing of, the planet whose purpose we knew not of. The planet upon which none of us knew we would experience the greatest expedition we had ever journeyed.

P*- If we had known anything of the future that was coming to us because of this planet, I wonder how we would have dealt with the mission given to us by the General? I often tend to wonder if he had known anything, and if he had, why he didn't tell us. Clearly the four that left that planet would have been the same four that had landed on it.

* * *

P*- As our configuration flew across the planet's atmosphere, I spotted a large plateau which appeared to be void of hazard. I pointed this out to Peppy who told the other two, and, with a destination in mind, we began the spiralling rapid descent through the clouds.

P*- For reasons that were unknown to me, or to any of the others, none of the countless radars and detectors aboard the Arwings picked up the large belt of pseudo-asteroids that lay beneath the cloud cover. The very logic of these asteroids was lost to me, but then, I had very little time to consider them at length, because it was maybe a sheer second of reaction time that I had to pull out of the dive.

P*- "Look ou-" I managed to get out before I watched the other three come face-to-face with the impossible belt of floating rocks. Unfortunately, face-to-face was not quite the correct term. As I sat still in the air, kept stable and stationary by the propulsion jets I had flicked on the moment I pulled out of the near fatal dive, I watched the three unaware Arwing jets get dashed to shreds by incoming rock.

P*- "No!" I shrieked as the starcrafts fell to the surface below. Pieces of machinery flew upwards and around the comets that were my friends, trailing frictionless fire. My practiced eyes darted across the surface, between each ship, through the air surrounding.

P*- My heart skipped a beat, but caught up with itself as I saw the falling shapes of the three pilots, who had managed to pull their parachutes and eject themselves from their wrecked crafts. A combination of wind and gravity pulled them in three separate directions.

P*- With a sudden determination, I dove into the meteorol onslaught, dodging rock and metal, being pulled in several directions simultaneously by some unknown force, outside that of the planet's natural gravity.

P*- And with a victorious cry, I pulled out onto the other side and continued my downward rush, following the path of one of the falling parachutes.

P*- I landed amid a swirling vortex of upturned grass and sand, killing the engines and the diffusers as I felt the Arwing jerk upon contact. As the debris settled, I opened the cockpit door, unbuckled myself, and leapt (again, admittedly somewhat showy) to the ground. The hatch closed behind me and, a moment later, the falling pilot I had followed landed with a soft thump.

P*- "What the heck was up with that?" panted Falco, unbuckling himself from the parachute harness, then dusting his feathers off, distracted.

P*- "Seriously," he continued, "What was up with that meteor storm up there? I mean come on, seriously."

P*- It was then, it appeared, that he noticed the absence of a certain hare and frog. "Really, those two seriously got themselves lost? Really? What else could go wrong?"

P*- Seriously Falco, you're gonna ask that? "Do I even have to point out what horrible a decision it was to say that?" I said, leaning against the Arwing.

P*- "Think about it: you just crash landed on an essentially unknown planet, emphasis, I might add, on _crash._ Your Arwing is busted beyond belief, and we're short to people. You do not _seriously_ want to know what else could go wrong." I pointed outward to a smoking wreck of twisted metal and glass that was Falco's Arwing.

P*- "Okay, fair enough, wise guy. Any idea what to do, now?"

P*- "Well, we were given a mission to explore the planet. I think we have a good enough reason to go exploring. You know, what with them missing, and all."

P*- "Sounds good to me. So, which way do you wanna go?" he asked, looking out into the surrounding areas, "Great fiery mountain of death and despair, great watery ocean of despair, or great… um… leafy…? I don't know… forest of despair?"

P*- I then took the time to realize that I knew nothing of our location, or anything about the locations surrounding us. A brief glance in all directions revealed that Falco's environmental analysis (sarcastic as it was) was pretty apt. For the most part, there was simply a large mountain in one direction, surrounded, it appeared, by the forest that walled off one end of the plateau on which we now stood. And on the other end was an obvious sheer cliff, overlooking a sea of crashing waves.

P*- "Personally, I hate the smell of wet dogs, myself, so I think we should go in the direction that does not involve water. How about you?"

P*- "That's just wrong, pigeon," I said, "I'm not a dog, and, despite the obvious interests of some, I'm better in water than you. Forest it is. Let's get on with it."

P*- "Oh, quack off," Falco retorted, but turned in the direction of the surrounding forest.

P*- And with the unfortunate vulgarity of Falco's birdbrained vocabulary, our adventure began.


	2. Chapter 2

**StarFox: ReUnition**

Chapter Two

p*- The forest contained a vast assortment of flora I was unable to identify, as well as a multiplex of abstract rock formations. My mind returned to Sauria for a moment and I briefly wondered about the EarthWalker King, Tricky. The thought of his child-like bluntness caused me to smile.

p*- Falco kept a feathered hand on his blaster, expecting the worst at any moment. Part of me was curious about where this cautious behavior of his had come from, but I let it slide. Antonia was, after all, an unexplored planet and was thus bound to have unexpected hazards.

p*- "You know," said Falco, "We could make this a lot easier if we had ourselves a Landmaster."

p*- "You know, Falco, the mission is about exploring the planet, not tanking it down." A brief feeling of deja vu of the General telling me essentially the same thing on Sauria.

p*- "You seem extremely perky today." Falco noted. A sudden desire to plasma tape his beak shut came over me, but I repressed it. The fact that my hand had partially crept to the roll at my waist was probably indicative of the severity of my repression.

p*- We continued on for several minutes, the day growing brighter than I had seen in many years.

p*- Our proximity to Solar was unknown to me, but I didn't think we were close enough for sunlight this bright. I pondered this for a moment before deciding that Antonia must be within shine distance of some other star that I didn't know. My knowledge of astrology was extensive enough to allow me to comfortably navigate Lylat, but didn't extend out much past Venom, or the edges of the other nearby systems. Since Antonia was a drifting planet bordering Lylat's edges, I think that I'm excused in these regards.

p*- "Do you know how long the days are here?" I asked out loud, knowing perfectly that Falco would have no idea. The question just sort of came out.

p*- Falco grunted a negative.

p*- So we continued on, silently. Cautious. Perceptive.

p*- I heard a bubbling sound that my excusable paranoia thought was an Apperoid, until awareness and rationality reminded me that the Apperoids were extinct. Various sounds that, to me, were like those of SharpClaws hissed through the air, but did not advance closer.

p*- Why was I so unsettled? Why was I so on edge? If only I knew.

p*- At least one of those sounds became known to us. The Apperoid sound I had heard translated itself into a rock-dammed river, which my past had simply mistranslated. I was not, and am to this day, still not, a coward. But I definitely feel like I deserve the privlage of at least being allowed to be paranoid. Was I deserving of that much?

p*- Falco knelt down to wash the soot and ash off his face, arms, and legs. He then cupped his hands and took a long drink. Realizing I was thirsty, I did the same.

p*- The water was fresher here than on most other planets, Aquas and Zoness included. Water was definitely one of those things that helped me define a planet: on Corneria, it was simply there and without much definition, yet ofn Aquas, it was the planet's main ecosystem (there were, of course, others, but the primary one was water) and was not suited for consumption by terrainian life. On Antonia, it seemed, water was water: cool, simple, and simply there.

p*- I added this information to the mental encyclopedia I was compiling for the General: Antonia- Water- Drinkable. Check.

p*- Thus we continued following the stream simply for lack of actual direction.

* * *

p*- The river continued on for several lengths before widening out into a large basin, which itself was fueled by a cascading waterfall. A bizarre characteristic I noted of the planet: if I was correct about certain qualities of its geography, then this river seemed to actually be flowing from North to South, which was the reverse of most planets I had been to. Another notation made in the Fox McCloud _Encyclopedia Antonia._

p*- Unfortunately for us, though, the waterfall was part of a large mountainous expanse. A sort of rocky bluff that rose upwards, but leveled off like the plateau we had landed on. The river had also picked up speed, indicating that some form of tidework was in effect. Possibly the result of a moon or other nearby gravitational force.

p*- Either way, the end result was the same: the river was moving too fast for Falco and I to cross safely. Without knowing what resided in the water, some formulation of rock, or some carnivorous fish, it was beyond dangerous to attempt to swim it, excluding the fear of being dragged away by the current. The attempt would be near suicidal. Which meant…

p*- "We either scale the waterfall," I told Falco, "Or turn back."

p*- "Options, options," said Falco, "They both sound _so_ fun. Questio: Why didn't we just take your Arwing?"

p*- Yes, that would have been easier. I would definitely have made it easier to locate Peppy and Slippy, but would not have served well in terms of the actual mission. Besides, in regards to Peppy and Slippy, I had watched them fall and had a pretty fair idea of how much area we had to work with. Little more than a couple of square kilometers. Essentially, an overgrown vastness that was roughly the size of Corneria City, if not fractionally larger. The only real issue was that of the unknown.

p*- I told all of this to Falco in simplified terms. He reluctantly decided to try the bluff.

* * *

p*- The positive side was that we had reached the top. The negative side was that we were essentially slaughtered on our way up.

p*- What had looked like a short climb to the top was made considerably longer, due to several surface was moist and damp from the waterfall, which eroded away most of the handholds, leaving the rock soft and crumbly. The rock was also coated in a delightfully fun layer or moss, which was nearly impossible to grab onto. And the fun continued. Apparently, living within and beneath the moss was a family of hard-shelled insects with incredibly sharp pincers, that were, evidently, also capable of flight.

p*- Fun fact that I learned about Falco as we were climbing: apparently he's arachnophobic. When he was about halfway up the surface, the roc he had reached up for moved, revealing itself to be a nesting scorpion. And down went Falco, who landed with an oddly satisfying thump.

p*- It was several minutes before he joined me at the top.

* * *

p*- Whatever star Antonia orbited had reached its highest peak, giving the trees and rocks an odd, enlongated shadow. As much as we'd have like to continue our search, we were tired. And the sound of the waterfall crashing below us was somewhat hypnotizing.

p*- We breaked there for several long, comfortable minutes.

* * *

p*- Awakening was an experience that lent itself to be surprising and terrifying. Primarily because I was awoken by a compressing force lying upon me, like several heavy-boddied individuals. Secondarily because this force was growling, with a nicely sharpened pair of saber-like teeth exposed to me in a menacing hiss.

p*- Before loosing forth a high-pitched, headache inducing shriek, I was able to visually piece together the creature baring down on me.

p*- A golden pelt, and a quadrpedal body that reminded me of the silk-speaking Panther Carosso. Though only coming to a knee-height, the being's presence was very intimidating. Within its amber eyes I saw a great desire, not to kill, but to survive. This Panther-bing (I mntally dubbed it a Golden Panther, after the startling resemblance to the mercenary) might have been a great hunter, maybe even some form of ruler, monarch, or king. But it was clearly frightened of me and the still sleeping Falco Lombardi.

p*- However, I did mention that I shrieked, and that was entirely and instinctive reaction to seeing such a creature, with canines bared, looming over me.

p*- The golden panther reared back, batting out a large padded paw, a defiant and defensive maneuver. Falco woke in that same moment.

p*- A quick burst from his blaster caused the golden panther to jump back, surprised and fearful. Several more of the plasma shots appeared to have weakened it, singeing its fur in the process.

p*- I drew out my own blaster and took careful aim at the panther, as Falco shot it closer to the edge. I lined the sight with the same principal I lived by in aerial combat: make every shot as if it were the last. Make every shot count.

p*- But it was neither mine, nor Falco's which killed the predator. Suddenly, from the junction of its right shoulder and its neck, an arrow sprouted. Another appeared along its side. A final one, with incredible force, rent itself through its head, pushing it back and over the edge.

p*- "What in the-" Falco said, confused.

p*- My surprise and awe left me as I saw a shadowy figure retreat high into the mountains, leaving me agape at the nimble stealth with which he bounded the rocks.

p*- This shadow-being vanished as he ascended, disappearing into an alcove high into the mountain.

p*- "Did you see that?" I gasped.

p*- "What was that?" Falco replied.

p*- But neither of us had an answer, and we unspokenly agreed where our next path would take us.

* * *

 **A brief note: the updating of this story might seem a little sporadic in the future, what with me deciding (rather stupidly) to begin a multi-chapter story, right after school started back up. So, if it doesn't seem like I'm updating, odds are very much likely that I'm lying dead underneath a combination of Psychology and English papers. Otherwise, I'll try to update as much as possible, but...**

 **Enough with my complaining. I'll leave you back to your lives now. Have a fantastic day, and I'll post more, when I have a decent next chapter written.**

 **Good-bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

-We took cautious steps upward, along the rocky trail of the shadow we pursued. Sand, rock, and moss dusted up around our feet, freed from who knew how many cycles of erosion, decomposition, and decay.

-Our chosen destination was a sort of alcove, a small-ish cave that lead into the mountain. I observed roosting creatures contained in brittle needle-like nests. Their resemblance was like a somewhat avian version of the pterodactyl-creatures I had witnessed on Sauria. A random dubbing in my mind based on these connections lead me to call them _Fethrdactyls_ , after their avian-pterodactyl image. The odd resemblance to Falco surprised me, somewhat.

-These fethrdactyls dotted the mountain, their nests jutting out in weird locations, leading me to believe this was some sort of nesting ground. As a result, I decided to call this mountain _EarthRoost Mountain_. After all, having some sort of system established in terms of nomenclature did lend itself to be quite useful. Part of the mission, after all, was entirely centered around familiarizing ourselves with the planet.

-We reached the cave, expecting to find our shadowy friend, only to realize that I had misjudged the size slightly.

-What I had perceived of as a cave turned out to be a sort of tunnel with mossy walls and some form of luminescent fungus. Moisture ran along through cracks in the walls and floors, pooling in small deposits along the tunnel's edges. The tunnel phased downward, delving into the earth, presumably drawing further into the mountain, possibly down the entirety of the mountain, possibly into the very core of the planet.

-"How far do you think this goes?" I asked, glancing into the dim expanses below.

-"No idea. Can't be too far. Obviously, our 'friend' went this way, so clearly we shouldn't be too far from catching up. Presuming he takes the time to stop and catch his breath, or something."

-"What are the odds he's actually friendly?"

-Falco thought for a moment, then put his hand on is blaster. "Then we negotiate." he said, a hollow sarcasm in his voice.

-Silence as we walked the tunnel, following an oddly convenient trail of fungus and glowing spores, arriving at a large glowing cavern. A phosphorescent river trickled below, several floors under. A hissing, scratching sound like bats' crying created a false ambience.

-I pulled a light from my inventory and shined it towards the roof.

-A huge flock (murder? family? school?) of fethrdactyls had swarmed around the hanging stalagmites, some nestling around larger ones in a familial sort of way. The effect was somewhat magical, in a sentimental way. How Falco perceived the flocking, I can't imagine, but it definitely left me feeling somewhat sad. Depressed.

-Father, where are you?

-I pushed the thought from my mind. No, I would not think about James. Of how he died. And I can't imagine what it was that brought thoughts of my dead father to my mind, other than seeing the humbling family of fethrdactyls. Actually, I had thought of him several times recently. And from here, I pushed James McCloud from my thoughts, allowing him to die again. But I still blinked away a tear, hoping to hope that Falco hadn't seen. Odds were, he hadn't.

-We crossed the room to a series of smaller branching tunnels, some going outward, some downward, and some leveling out.

-"Which way d'you think he went?" Falco asked, flashing a light down the tunnels individually, "Which way, which way?"

-I paused and considered this. I ran the light along the ground, looking for anything that seemed indicative. Footprints or something. Realistically, anything.

-There they were, scuffed patches in the ground, shuffling steps' marks where our target had rushed through, possibly to avoid us tracking him.

-A momentary thought skimmed my mind, then passed that our guy might not be a man at all.

-"This way," I said, pointing my light at the up-sloped tunnel, "I think he went this way."

-So we went that way.

* * *

-The lights of the fungi sputtered and began to dim as we approached a brightening at the end of the tunnel. A gusting of wind, shifting of earth, accompanied us as we traveled on and upward, the tunnel spilling out into openness and the outer atmosphere.

-We had arrived on a cliff that seemed to look outward over the forestry below. The cliff curved slightly around the mountain, but then cut off into a large wall of rock that jutted further up. Another tunnel stood at the edge of the walling-rock, spiraling up into the mountain, presumably further towards the summit.

-Falco turned toward the cave, but I walked over to the edge.

-He stopped. "Where're you going?"

-"Look," I said, pointing to a billowing shape in the forest below, "Do you see that?"

-"Smoke? What of it?" Falco asked, impatiently.

-"Familiar to you, Falco?" A blank look, hidden behind his characteristic smirk. "Smoke?" … "Forest?" … "Arwing?!"

-"Oh… right…"

-Sometimes, I really questioned this guy. Falco could be so… thick… sometimes.

-"By my estimation," I said, which could be taken with a grain of salt, or a shot of penicillin, "we're maybe ten lengths or so from it. On land."

-"Yeah, but the cliff's too steep for us to parallel without, ya' know, killing us." Falco pointed out.

-"We'll just have to go around. Through the mountain. Tunnels. We'll just go through. Hope the tunnels let out somewhere close to the forest."

-"What about our _friend_ from the plateau?" Falco asked.

-"Let's run this one thing at a time." I said, "Priorities: exploration and analysis; find our comrades. Anything else that happens, happens. If we find _him_ , then we'll cross that bridge then. Until then, priorities"

-"Sure, sure. But, let's make this quick. Onward, and all that."

-"Right." I muttered, "onward."

* * *

-A strange and intoxicating scent rose up from the ground at our feet. The inner lining of the tunnel was slick with moisture and spongy with moss. Floral aromas rose around the crunching of the moss under our feet. Floral and lively.

-The tunnel opened into a small room, ground littered with- wait…

-"Are these…" I said, picking up one of the glittering stones, "… _diamonds?"_

 _-_ "I think so." Falco said, looking at the gemstones embedded in the floor and walls, "How much are these worth, you think?"

-"Considerably more than the General's paying us." I said.

-Diamonds. A room full of diamonds, rubies, opals, and other precious stones. Adamant, mythril, and filings of orichalcum ore. Some strange abstract metallic ore of a shimmering pink-sapphire hue of which I had a vague memory the name of.

-A large abundance of the pink ore veined outward along the walls, crawling and interweaving with the other stones and metalloids.

-I made note of the stones in the chamber and considered the other rare resources Antonia might possess. Perhaps that was the General's interest in the planet. Precious resources of this kind would pique the interest of any general, especially if one of those resources was-

-Lustrum ore! That was the name of the pink ore!

-Among the precious metals of Lylat, lustrum was definitely one of the most valued. Not to the value of orichalcum or mythril, but precious none-the-less. Lustrum has light-refracting properties that allow the metal to focus certain plasmas and lumen particles. Most blasters, as well as the plasma jets found on Arwings, used lustrum casings to channel energy. Some Cornerian scientists considered it to be a 'living metal,' due to an odd tendency of it to react in anaerobic environments. Specifically, when deprived of oxygen or certain nitrogen compounds, it was prone to phasing out, essentially causing it to rust. Starships and other combat machinery often used iron-lustrum alloys to counteract this quality. There was something else about it, but I couldn't remember what.

-"Think we should get a couple of… _ahem_.. samples?" Falco asked.

-"Definitely." I said, taking a small octagonal pod from my inventory, placing it on the ground. The beacon lit up with a sharp _ping._

-"What's that for? If we couldn't get a signal going from the Arwing to the others, what are the odds you can pick up a signal from inside a mountain?"

-"I think Slippy will be able to figure something out when we find him. He's the expert in these things. Besides, if we-"

- _Shift_

 _-Shutter_

 _-Phase_

 _-Shift_

-"What was that?!" My hand moved to my blaster.

- _Shutter_

 _-Shutter_

 _-Shutter_

 _-Flex_

-"What the heck?!" Falco drew his gun pointing around, almost at random.

- _Flex_

 _-Shift_

 _-Flash!_

-Blinding light filled the chamber, then dulled to a dim mellowness, returning the room to its original fungal darkness.

-"What's going on? What the _heck_ is going on?!"

- _"Shush! Calm your feathers!"_ I said, "Let me think."

- _Shift_

 _-Shift_

 _-Shift_

 _-_ Something was moving. Moving abysmally fast, but somewhere out of sight. Somewhere I couldn't figure out.

- _Shift_

 _-Scuttle_

 _-Phase_

 _-Shift_

 _-_ I saw that the chamber had a door-like opening on one end that I had missed. "Falco, over there!"

-He swerved in the direction I was pointing and-

- _Scuttle_

 _-Shift_

 _-Scuttle_

-Falco ran toward the door, I followed, into a larger chamber.

 _-Scuttle_

 _-Scuttle_

 _-Scuttle_

 _-_ We ran. The chamber T'ed off, upwards and downwards. Something blitzed passed us, an indistinct swirling form of shifting colors. My first thought of the creature chasing us was that it had some form of camouflage, like a certain bipedal chameleon I knew, but I could discern no distinctive shape. It was shapeless, formless, vague, like a shadow or a memory.

 _-Shift_

 _-Scuttle_

 _-Scuffle_

 _-_ The thing hissed as it shifted into the down-sloping tunnel. Obviously, we ran through the up-sloping tunnel, bringing us into a conical vase-like chamber, shimmering red light pulsating through glassy veins of lustrum and silver ore.

-A ramp-like slope screwed along the walls, passing numerous floors and levels in both directions. The roof of the chamber was cracked and dome-like.

-"What was that _thing?!_ " Falco shrieked, stopping to breathe, panting and coughing on the kicked up dust and sediments.

-"No idea! Whatever it was, it didn't seem friendly."

-"Did you _see it?!_ Did you _see_ _it?_ Thing was flipping _wrong!"_ Falco coughed again.

-"Wait, you saw it?" I asked, curious. "What did it look like? I couldn't see, it was moving too fast and I couldn't discern its body."

-Falco gave me a strange look, something that seemed to say _Seriously?!_ , a sort of confused, worried expression.

-"Seriously, what was it?"

-Falco started to say something, but caught himself, electing instead to say, "I couldn't tell. I couldn't see, properly."

-Of which I clearly knew he was lying, but chose not to say anything. Whatever the Chaser was it freaked Falco out to no extent. Images of Andross and Krazoa spirits flashed in my mind. I pushed them away and changed the subject.

-"Where are we now?" I pondered.

-"No clue," Falco said, clearly welcoming the change of subject, "Is it just me or is it blazing hot in here?"

-"Yeah, if you ask me it reminds me of- oh look!" I said, walking across the edge of the ramp, and looked down into the bottom of the cone. Bright luminous red.

-Several thousand tonnes of molten rock and metal sludged below, popping, and bubbling. Swiftly spinning eddies of fumes rose around, steam billowing out of excess moisture that seamed to roil out of melting gold. I started panting like mad, tongue lapping as I tried to catch my breath among the rising toxins.

-"Are we seriously inside of a _volcano?"_ Falco barked out a haughty laugh. "Of course we are! What else do we have going for us? What other madness will we deal with in this blasted mountain?!"

-"Lustrum," I said, moving toward Falco, "Lava, and that breaking _thing_ that was chasing us. What's next? _What kind of planet are we on?"_

-"What, you think the General knew about that _thing?"_

-"No, he couldn't have. But if _someone_ had let him _speak_ we'd probably have _some_ idea where we're at!"

-"So it's my fault we got attacked by the scourge of Antonia?" Falco barked.

-"No, it's your fault we don't have _any braying idea what we're dealing with!"_

-"Like you've got any room to talk! You've been striking twisted for the past month! Couldn't let us plan or anything without blowing your top off!"

-"Cool it, bird-beak! You've no idea!"

-"What're you gonna do 'bout it, _pup?!"_

-"Give me one reason I shouldn't _pitch_ you into the broiler right now!"

-"As if! You couldn't law one pad on me without me polishing your guts off my boots!"

-"I dare you! I _freaking dare you!"_

-"Try me!" Falco screamed, reaching for his blaster. "Wait, what?"

-He started patting his holster, pockets, belt, inventory. "Where the heck is it?!"

-"What, pheasant lose his gun?!" I cackled.

-"Chill it! I can't find my blaster!" The anxiety in his voice suddenly lowered my raging blood pressure.

-"When did you lose it?"

-"How should I know?! I had it when that _thing_ was chasing us, but now I don't have it!"

-"Where could you have lost it?"

-He looked up the tunnel we had come in through.

-"Yeah, we're not going back there." I said.

-"Come on, do you have a spare gun?"

-"Actually, no."

- _"Seriously?"_

-"I do not have another gun."

-"What am I supposed to fight with, then?!"

"Don't worry, bird-beak, we'll find you something. Don't forget, I had to use Krystal's staff on Sauria. Maybe we can find you a stick to beat things with!"

-"Not funny!" Falco definitely seemed flustered, more so than when we were arguing, moments before.

-Falco suddenly jerked his head towards the tunnel.

-"Aha!" he screamed, running for something lying at the edge of darkness.

- _Shift_

 _-Scuttle_

 _-Scuffle_

 _-Screech!_

 _-_ "Falco…"

-"There it is!" he said, holstering his gun. He saw my face. "What?"

- _Screech_

 _-Screech_

 _-SCREECH!_

- _"Aaaghhh!"_ The shadows swirled around Falco, twisting and metastasizing in eldritch configurations.

 _-Shift_

 _-Shuffle_

 _-Screech screech SCREECH!_

 _-_ The _thing_ cloaked him in camouflaging threads of unseeable color. Falco began to scream, feathers sticking out in unclear directions.

- _"FOX! RUN!"_ Falco screamed. _"RUN! RUUNNNN!"_

 _-"FALCO!"_ I screamed as something swift tore into me, throwing me up the slope.

-I felt hands, firm, tight hands, grab me and drag me along, up the spiraling rock. As I was pushed to my feet and pulled through the various floors of the conical room, I had one last look at Falco, lying face-down on the rock, body covered in eldritch shadows.

-I vaguely took the time to recognize the being dragging me along as the same who had taken out the golden panther, before it could have its way with us.

-Something about the man leading me through the mountain was familiar. But perhaps that was just my imagination.

* * *

 **A lot of things happened in this chapter, and I know that it came out _extremely_ fast paced, but I have the utmost intention of slowing things down, hopefully. Also, if it's not obvious, this story is mostly based around _StarFox: Adventures,_ so there will be many parallels between this story and that game, mainly because it, in my opinion, allows for slightly better storytelling options than other _StarFox_ games. Cue rage and flaming over that comment.**

 **Also, I just realized that this was starting to remind me of _Pikmin 2_. So, disclaimer, any similarities between this fic and that game are completely coincidental, and will not effect the plot in the slightest. Probably. Most likely.**

 **Any guesses on who our mysterious _Deus ex Machina_ is?**

 **Find out next time on _StarFox: ReUnition!_ See you guys, next time! Buh-bye!**


End file.
